Of Dorks and Popcorn
by SerenityWritesSlash
Summary: AU. John Egbert is kind of poor, and things aren't exactly perfect for him and his roomate. But that all seems to change when a Rom Com loving troll walks into his movie store, turning John's life upside down every time they meet.
1. Chapter 1

There was a bright side to being poor. Generally being an optimistic kind of guy, John Egbert found a bright side in almost _anything_. But being poor was different; it was a simple life. With the store getting him a few extra bucks, and his part-time job as a waitor, John figured he had all the money he needed. Of course, he had some help.

Dave Strider, John's best bro in the entire universe, was part of the reason John wasn't broke. As roomates in a tiny appartment, Dave and John went dutch with the bills and always pooled their cash together. A working DJ at a night club, Dave was practically nocturnal, and was either asleep or studying whenever John was home. They didn't speak as much as typical roomates should have, but they texted eachother non-stop, and that made up for it.

The movie store had been Dave's idea. John could easily rent out copies of his vast collection, and he could also talk about movies until someone's ear fell off. It was the perfect job. Too bad Netflix had come around and half the movie stores were going out of buisness.

"We're screwed," John stated one morning, getting ready to go downstairs and _not_ sell any movies. A tradition of a sort.

Dave rolled his eyes, he never wore his shades around John, "Egbert, since when were you a pessimist?"

"I'm not!" John whined, "I'm being realistic, Dave!"

"Uh huh," Dave yawned. John frowned and bustled his bro back to his room, telling him off about pulling another all-nighter. After some delicous poptart breakfast, John all but skipped downstairs; poptarts just made him happy.

The store was small, but very well stacked. It had many movies that some people wouldn't be able to find anywhere else. It even had troll movies, though John preffered human classics, trolls came up with...original ideas. Needless to say, the store had a wide variety of products, and no customers. Every now and again some one would stop by, but buisness wasn't that good. It was John's only source of extra money, for activities that didn't involve shopping, paying rent, and internet bills, so, in a sense, he was broke.

That's why took John completely off guard, that afternoon, when a young male troll all but kicked down the door.

Startled, John sat up in his seat. Customers were rare to come by, after all. He made quick effort to seem official, but it was to no avail, due to his giant glasses sliding right off his nose and onto the floor.

The troll glanced at him, his lips twitching upwards for a small moment. Reaching his clawed hand down, he delicately picked up John glasses and put them on the counter. "You dropped these, fuckass."

"Uh, thanks. No need to be rude, though..." John mumbled, fiddling to get the glasses on his face. The troll watched him, his glowing eyes were squinted.

"How the fuck was noting your clumsy actions rude?" he growled.

John chuckled, "Saying the word 'fuck' a lot is rude."

"You just said it," the troll pointed out, "Does that make you rude?"

"It's the way that you're saying it!" John said, smiling a little.

The troll went quiet for a few minutes, then he stuck out his hand. "I'm Karkat."

"John Egbert!" chirped John.

For a moment, Karkat's eyes seemed to bore into John, making him wonder if trolls had x-ray vision, but then those eyes were trailing across the store. Evidentally shocked with what he saw, Karkat ran up to John's romantic comedy shelf. John watched as the mesmerised troll ran his hands over a DVD case, glancing all over the place to find another movie.

"You have all the good ones!" Karkat exclaimed, clearly in awe.

"Really?" John knew he did, but it was still nice to hear.

"Yes!" Karkat confirmed, nodding a little bit too much. He continued his search for other films, not noticing John's eyes on his back. John hardly ever got customers, let alone trolls, so he was dying to chat with the guy- but he was so grumpy!

"So, you're into Romantic Comedies?" John asked, shyly.

"I fucking breathe these things," Karkat said, scooping up three more DVDs. "So, how's this rental thing work? We do things differently back home, I'm guessing."

"Uh, all you need to do is sign this sheet. Then you pay for it!" John said, fumbling to get his hands on the sign-out sheet. It was burried in one of the drawers, so he had to crouch down to get it. When he stood up, he was face to face with the troll. "Uh, here you go." John held out the piece of paper, staring into those giant, yellow eyes.

Karkat messily scribbled his name, then reached into his back pocket to get out his money. "How much?" he grunted, pulling out a few bills.

"Uh, each movie is five dollars, so...that'll be twenty-five." John nodded, readying the cash register. Karkat slammed a twenty dollar bill on the countertop, sprinkling a bunch of quarters to follow it. After a lot of counting, John found everything in place. "Okay, all you have to do is return those in a week."

"Right," Karkat said, dismissively waving his clawed hand around. "See you then, Egbert."

"Bye!" John called, watching the troll waltz out the door. He found himself wishing he could time travel ahead one week, but tried hard not to acknowledge why he wanted to.


	2. Chapter 2

"What can I do to convince you to watch _The Hitch_?"

Karkat did't answer him right away, but John was paitient. Every week, Karkat Vantas would walk into his store, and every week John would be ready to attack him with small talk. John was determined to brighten the troll's mood, even if it seemed beyond impossible. But he was pretty sure he could pull off Tom Cruise.

"I don't know, Egbert. Maybe convince me on how it will dramatically change my views on romantic comedies?" Karkat drawled, shuffling around one of the shelves.

"It just will!" John whined, "I promise you'll like it!" He held out the case, waving it around. "I know you want it, Karkat!"

Reluctantly, the troll snatched the DVD out of John's hands. "I've gotta go, studying for the fucking exams."

"Wait, hold up, it's the middle of that day!" John gapsed, "You're supposed to be at the high school!"

"No shit. I'm pulling a Ferris Bueler." Karkat rolled his yellow, cat-like eyes. He slammed a five dollar bill on the counter, "This movie better be worth it!" And then he was gone.

John really liked that kid. He had no reason to. Karkat was an 'eight sweep' year old troll, and he was a twenty-two year old human. Other than their love for movies, John and Karkat had very little in common.

Suddenly, John's phone buzzed in his pocket. It was his pesterchum. And his roomate was the chum that was pesturing.

**TurntechGodhead: Dude, we're out of milk.**

**EctoBiologist: Are you serious?**

**TurntechGodhead: Sorry, bro. I'm lying all up in my lack of calcium. My bones are becoming goop. I need the neccesities only cow utters can provide.**

**EctoBiologist: Like those weird commercials?**

**TurtechGodhead: Oh, look, you got a T.V referance.**

**EctoBiologist: Alright, I'll go get some milk. Is it really that hard to come down from the apartement and tell me yourself?**

**TurtechGodhead: My legs. They are goop.**

Rolling his eyes, John closed up shop and ran to the nearest convience store. He managed to get a bag of apples (and applejuice), some spaghetti, and a few frozen pizzas while he was at it. It was lucky for him that Jade was at the counter, today. She was like his sister, in a weid sort of way. Someone could easily mistake them for twins, when they were really just close friends.

"The milk is free," she whispered, winking at him.

"You are the best. I love you." John whispered back, making sure no one saw him kiss her on the tip of her nose. They had an awkward glasses collision, but they were never ones to complain about that kind of thing; they just laughed.

"Tell Rose I say hi!" John said, gathering his shopping bag with a smile.

When he got back to the apartement, Dave was literally almost in tears at the sight of him. "Broooooooo! You did it! You got the milk!"

"And," John dramatically pulled out a six pack of apple juice, "TADA!"

Dave's shades were off in a second, and he was on his knees bowing. "I'd marry you right now if I wasn't in total love with that chick at the club."

This was a habit of theirs, joking about Dave's ongoing crush. They knew little about her, only that she had a great taste in music, and had clearly fake ID. Dave had been pining over his DJ set the moment he saw her do an failed attempt of the hussle, and often spoke of said pining to his best bro. John never got tired of hearing about it, though.

"Crap, it's my shift tonight." John whined, slumping towards his room. Dave crawled around the corner of their shitty excuse of a couch and pulled out John's waiter vest. He tossed it at his bro, who swiftly caught whilst stripping into his undershirt. After the regular restaurant shirt was on, and the vest after it, John high-fived Dave and set out.

It wasn't like he hated his job, on the contrary, John loved being all friendly and nice to random strangers. No, it was the fact that every now and then, he'd see a douchebag from school. Or worse, there would be some issues with trolls. John didn't know much about the whole 'planet union' agreement, but he knew that humans and trolls often weren't too fond of each other. Personally, John liked trolls. Especially Karkat. But he was kind of the only lead John had on that species.

After another long night of serving tables, the restaurant was finally calming down. John, exhausted, collasped into the nearest barstool.

"No. Fucking. Way."

He knew that voice! John looked up, and there, right in front of him, was Karkat Vantas. He was wearing a Batman sweater, with a hood covering his knubby horns, and smirking something awful. "You actually fucking work here."

"Oh, shut up." John sighed, "I didn't ask to be poor, you know."

Karkat sat on the barstool next to him, "Nobody would actually asks for poverty, Egbert. Unless they were depressed, socially awkward, or just didn't give a fuck."

And so they conversed about poverty, and John found Karkat to be a much better conversationalist when he wasn't pressed for time. Sure, he swore like a sailor, but John didn't mind. A few curse words were nothing much, and the surly teenage troll was a riot.

"Don't flip your shit! I only said that-" John's defense was cut short.

Karkat had a scowl that could murder a kitten, "I didn't flip my shit. My shit remains generally unflipped."

They were both laughing before Karkat even got the last word out.

"You're fun to talk to," John giggled, in the manliest way possible.

"Right, and you're an idiot." Karkat rolled his eyes, but he wore a tiny smile.

They bantered a little more until Karkat's lusus magically called him, or whatever, and he had to leave. John was glad he got to talk with him, the movie store small talk might be able to expand now. When his shift ended, he went home and tried to get some sleep.

At one in the morning, his phone buzzed. Dave? No, he didn't regonise the number. John hit the recieve call button, wondering who it could be.

"Hey, Fuckass."

John's jaw dropped, "Karkat? How on earth did you-"

"I fucking love Will Smith. Get me the whole fucking collection, I'm picking up all his films tomorrow." And he hung up.

After a beat, John laughed.


	3. Chapter 3

Karkat liked to be unpredictable. One day, he arrived in the store with three people following him. John almost flipped- there were four trolls in his movie store! He never got this many customers in one day!

"Egderp, meet Sollux, Hipster-Fish, and Feferi." Karkat gestured to the group behind him, then went off to browse the movies.

"My name is actually Eridan," Hipster-Fish said, waving at John with a lopsided grin. Feferi was hanging off of his arm, making it kind of obvious they were a couple. They were both sea-dweller trolls, and they had fishy things poking out from under their ears.

"Tho," Sollux lisped, making a beeline for the action films. "You theemed thurprithed to get any cuthtomerth."

"Be nice, Sol." Feferi had a warning tone, but her voice was bubbly. "He's only human."

"Uh," John weakly adjusted his glasses, "What kind of movie would you be interested in?"

"KK'th picking out one for me," Sollux said, albeit peering over a set of brilliant films John would reccomend. "But I wath wondering if you had that one with Liam Neethon...'Taken' or thomething like that."

"To your left," John supplied, helpfully.

"I'm looking for 'The Little Mermaid'." Feferi piped up from the childrens section. John went over and dug it out for her. "Thanks! I hear it's a human classic."

"For wrigglers," Karkat scoffed, scooping up ten romantic comedies.

"Don't diss Ariel, man." Dave's voice sounded, as he headed down the stairs.

"Who're you?" Karkat asked, a little venomously.

"Dave Strider," said Dave, leaping down the last to stairs and landing right in front of Karkat. "How do you do?" He tipped his sunglasses, making John laugh.

"Dave! You're awake!" he ran for his bro, giving him props.

"What was that?" Eridan asked, "That thing you two just did with your hands...?"

"A brofist," Dave smirked, holding out his fist for Eridan. "Try it, man."

There was a short pause, and then Eridan balled up his fist and tapped Dave's knuckles. Sollux was laughing his ass off over a movie shelf, Feferi was giggling with him, and Karkat just looked confused. "What's your name?" Dave asked Eridan, grinning his signature 'we are now homies' grin.

"Eridan Amporra," supplied the Hipster-Fish.

"We are officially bros." Dave declared, solemly. Then he gave John a pat on the shoulder, "Dude, I have to go see Rose. She needs me to help her stack up books that go on shelves she can't reach, even with a ladder!"

Rose worked at a library, one that was just downtown. John often visited to check out a few joke books, but he mostly went to see her trying to shush up loud little kids. "Okay, be back by six. We're having pasta." John reminded Dave, as his bro strode out the door.

"Was that your moirail?" Feferi asked, smiling at John with her pointy teeth.

"My what?" John asked, trying to remember what Quadrant that one was.

"Humans called them 'best friends'." Fefrri said, making little hand quotes. "But Trolls call them moirails; they're the pale-rom quadrant."

"Bathically, you platonically love each other." Sollux said, "Like me and KK."

Karkat blushed, looking at the ground. John wondered why he'd be embarrassed by having a best friend, then he realised Karkat must've been insecure about _love_. That would explain the Rom Coms, after all.

"We're ready to pay for this," Feferi chirped from the cash register, making john scurry over. He couldn't help but notice Eridan staring at his knuckles as if he'd unlocked the secrets of the universe; t'was but the after effect of touching Dave Strider.

"Okay, if you all pay together, it'll be...twenty-five bucks." John counted the number of cases, watching Feferi dig out a wad of cash. "Is this enough?" she hummed, distractedly.

"Yeah..." John said, eyes bulging at how much money was left in her wallet.

"She's an heiress in the troll world," Sollux explained, casually looking over Karkat's shoulder to see the movies. Karkat grumbled a weak 'no peeking', then shot a look at John, who smiled. Karkat's lips twitched back, then he and his friends headed back out the door.

That tiny lip-twitch was killing John's heart. It beat ridiculously fast for the rest of the day, until Dave walked back inside, Rose in tow. "John! She's done it! She's finally gotten a date!" Dave cried, melodramatically.

"You're exaggerating, again." Rose huffed, her voice as silky as ever. John loved hearing her talk, just because she sounded so calm and distinguised all the time. "I've merely met a kind, intelligent, female troll named Kanaya who asked if I would accompony her to get some coffee."

"That's called a _date_ Rose!" John shrieked, giddy with excitement. He and Dave were worse than ten-year old girls when it came to romance, Rose told them as much every time they spoke. "You have to tell us EVERYTHING." Dave nodded with John, watching the blonde woman pick her way through the 'Foreign Films' section.

"A true gentlemen would never kiss and tell," Rose said, mockingly.

"But we're not true gentlemen!" Dave whined, "We're dopey twenty-somethings with no futures!"

"Preace!" John sang, lifting his hand up in the air.

It felt great to just lounge around with Rose and Dave, and eventually Jade who was invited over via la text. The four friends just goofed off, ever the same since high school, and everything was in it's right place. John couldn't have asked for anything better.


	4. Chapter 4

Okay, scratch that. Things could be a lot better. John was found staring at the internet bill in horror, Dave awkwardly trying to console him. "It's pay-day tomorrow. I promise i'll bring home the loot."

"I'm working extra hours at the restaurant." John decided, "Okay?"

Dave didn't bother stopping him, he knew it was useless. John was determined when he needed to be, it was just how things were. He wound up taking two extra hours at the restaurant, leaving no time for him to break down.

It was three days later when John ended up serving Karkat. "May I help you?" He asked, innocently showing Karkat where to sit.

"Why are you working here so late? I went to the store and it was closed." Karkat grumbled, crossing his arms.

"Our bills went up. I need the money." said John, "What do you want to drink?"

"Water," Karkat pouted, "And a list of classics I'd happily watch."

The idea of Karkat curled up on the couch watching a movie was highly welcoming, but John shook it away. No. Work. He had to work. "Tomorrow, okay?" John promised, walking off to get Karkat's drink. The troll watched him go.

...

The next day, he did stay at the shop, as promised, but his mind wandered to the bills. John burried his face in his hands, grumbling a few cuss words. He remembered that song from _Charlotte's Web_ about keeping his chin up. John laughed, titling his head backwards so that his chin was pointed high into the air.

"What the fuck are you doing?"

He brought his head down, and right before him was Karkat and a female troll. She wasn't like Feferi, her hair was cropped just by her shoulders, two spiked candycorn horns, bright red sunglasses covering her eyes, and she was holding a cane. Behind her, a tall, lanky troll stood. He had wild curls, horns that looked like goat horns, and almost clownish make-up on his face. "I was keeping my head up." John replied, raising an eyebrow.

"This is Terezi, and this is Gamzee." Karkat said, gesturing to the two of them. "They're here to help you get some extra money."

"Hmm, this place smells like poptarts!" the girl, Terezi, cackled, taking a large breath.

"You know where I can get some motherfucking sci-fi movies?" Gamzee asked, sounding like he wasn't even aware of himself asking. John assumed he was high, and nodded over at the section of the store. His assumptions were confirmed truse when he saw Gamzee crush a cigarette under his foot before entering.

John was comepletely surprised when Terezi dropped an armful of movies on the desk, pulling out a wallet that didn't exactly look like it belonged to her. His opinion on the wallet wavered when he saw it's contents. "That'll be thirty dollars..." John gulped, counting all the movies.

"Here you go," Terezi said, slapping a fifty dollar bill on the counter. "That's thirty, right?"

So she was blind, and John didn't want to take advantage of a handicap. "Uh, no, that's a fifty."

"Oh? Go ahead and keep it. The money isn't mine anyways." Terezi said, waving her hand around as if she was drawing in the air.

"Terezi, we motherfucking told you not to share our little wallet snatching habits with the human!" Gamzee whined, putting another movie on top of a pile he was forming. It was like he wanted the entire Science Fiction section. "He could report us to the coppers."

"No, I won't." John said, "You're just kids, anyway...wait. Shouldn't you be in school?!"

"We're only a few years younger than your wrinkly ass, and no, it's lunch break." Karkat answered, crossing his arms. "And we didn't steal the wallet, the guy dropped it on the ground and we picked it up. No theft."

Footsteps bounded, and suddenly Dave was down the stairs. "John! John, you'll never guess what I just made! It's an ensured eargasm, I swear to g-" He froze, and though it was impossible to tell where his gaze was under those shades, John was guessing it was on Terezi.

"Who's that?" she asked, "He sounds like the DJ from a club Nepeta snuck me into, once."

"Hold up- fucking Nepeta snuck you into a club?!" Karkat asked, sounding increduled.

"Long story, but where's the DJ voice gone?" Terezi tilted her head in Dave's direction. "I can hear you breathing."

"Uh...I'm Strider. Dave Strider." Dave was pink in the face, and he looked at John with comeplete amazement. It was her! It was the chick from the club that he always joked about!

"Yep, you're definitely him!" Terezi giggled, walking towards Dave like she owned the place. "May I listen to that eargasm worthy thing you've created?"

"S-sure." Dave stuttered, he fucking stuttered. John wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry as the two of them ascended the stairs and out of sight. Gamzee looked like he wanted to puke, shaking his head and grabbing a copy of Peter Pan from the fantasy section.

Karkat turned to John, "Am I missing something?"


	5. Chapter 5

**_A.N: I don't know why people seem to like this story, it's kind of a lazy-snippet thing I'm not treally into. XD I'm trying to give it some sort of plot, but...yeah. There'll be about five more chapters after this, I'll at least make John and KK hook up._**

* * *

"This is nice."

John was walking back to the shop when Karkat ran into him, and eventually offered to help carry some of his groceries. It was late a night, John had bought pizza-pockets and some vegetables. That was pretty much all he could afford, right now. He was glad Karkat was there, though. Karkat was fun to talk to, a lot of fun once you got past all the grouchy exterior.

"What was that?" Karkat asked, shifting his arm so that his could carry the plastic bag easier. His Batman hoodie shone in the light from nearby stores, making the symbol across his chest seem almost real.

"This," John gestured between them, "This is nice."

"...Walking?" Karkat furrowed his brows, clearly confused.

John giggled, "No, silly! Just walking and hanging out with you. It's nice."

"Oh," Karkat's face turned to a pinkish-red shade, his blood colour.

"Aw, look at you, blushing!" John teased, poking Karkat's shoulder. "What a sight!"

"Shut the fuck up before I chop of your human testicles and feed them to a barkbeast." Karkat snarled, growing even more red.

"Woah, hold up, trolls don't have balls?" John gasped, amazed with his new knowledge.

Karkat scratched his head, looking uncomfortable. "Uh, no. We do not have sacks under our nooks. THE MORE YOU KNOW."

"Weird," John chuckled, shaking his head. "You guys reproduce through eggs, I should've known that."

Karkat gave him a look, "Uh-huh. So you wanted to know whether or not I had balls?"

"Wha- no! I just...don't make me guilty, I'm just a human!" John wailed, waving his arms up and down. "I'm sorry!"

"Oh, shut up." Karkat mumbled, rolling his eyes.

When they got back to the shop, John wished that they hadn't. He wanted to talk with Karkat, some more. Karkat was interesting, funny, grumpy but actually really nice, and John liked him. "Want to watch a movie with me?" The question left his lips before he even noticed.

"...Only if I get to pick." Karkat said, lips twitching into a smile.

They wound up watching Inception, which earned a lot of citisism from Karkat on the sanity of humans, and then a lot of swearing and confusion from John. It really didn't make any sense, John had no idea why this was Jade's favorite movie. Then again, Con Air.

"That guy," Karkat pointed at the screen, "Is it natural for humans to have eyes like that?"

"Leonardo Dicaprio is too perfect to be demoted as a human," John said, laughing. They were sitting side-by-side on his couch, watching the slow motion scenes while only half paying attention. No wonder they didn't get it.

"You were right," Karkat said, "This _is_ nice."

John found himself blushing and wishing his heart would stop beating, cursing the cheesy situation at the back of his mind. But it was still nice.


	6. Chapter 6

John was not gay. He couldn't be. Sure, he'd never thought about it until that morning, but he couldn't be gay. But what else could a dream like that mean? He buried his face in his pillow, trying hard to push the contents of the dream out of his mind. Karkat's smile. Karkat's lips. What the hell?! He was going nuts!

"DAVE!" John shrieked, running into the living room as fast as he could, stumbling along the way. Dave was sitting on the couch, shades off, reading some book. When he noticed John, he looked up in surprise, his red eyes wide.

"What is it?" he dropped the book, standing to meet his friend before John could collaspe onto the floor. "Dude, what happened?"

"I- I...I don't know!" John wailed, feeling himself tear up. He'd always been over-emotional. "I had this dream, and I was with Karkat, and we were kissing..."

Dave chuckled, pulling John into a tight hug. "Stop fussing man, your subconscious is just telling you what you want. If you want that pissy, seventeen-year-old troll, then it's what you want."

"But," John was shaking in Dave's arms, "But I can't be..."

Dave pulled back, "Gay? John, trolls are bisexual, so why can't you be?"

He had a point. "So, what do I do?" John asked, suddenly feeling upset at the idea of Karkat turning him down. "What if he doesn't like me?"

"Dude, have you seen the way that fucker looks at you?" Dave started laughing, "He's probably been pining about you since the day you met!"

Well, now John felt stupid. He started laughing and sobbing at the same time, earning a lot of reasurrance from his best friend. Apparently, John's 'gay panic' phase had come late. He thanked Dave more than once, and eventually he got dressed and headed downstairs to start another day. He had a plan. Sort of.

When Karkat showed up, John felt nervous. It had been a long time since he'd had a crush on someone, so he had no idea what to do. "Hey, Egderp." Karkat said, waving his hand a little. John never noticed how soft his gaze was until just then, so it was no shock that he blushed.

"Uh, yeah, hey, Karkat!" he stammered, trying to seem cool. _Fail_. "How are you?"

"Not good, exams are killing me." the troll shrugged, heading over for the rom coms. "And what about you? Paying the bills?"

"Scraping by, but, yeah..." John glanced down at the floor, wondering what he should do. He was twenty-two, and Karkat was only seventeen. Five years stood in between them.

"Hey," Karkat suddenly looked up from the shelf, "Do you want to, you know, see that new movie that's coming out? In a theatre?"

"Which one?" John asked, feeling his heart go limp.

"Uh, the one with Will Smith..." Karkat said, going red in the face. "And, if you're not busy of whatever...maybe you could see it with me?"

John opened his mouth but no words came out.

"Ah, fuck, nevermind!" Karkat mumbled, quickly averting his gaze.

"Of course I'll see it with you!" John yelped, trying not to sound desprate. "I mean, would it be a date...?"

"I don't know, I've never been on one." Karkat said, taken aback from John's eagerness. "I guess it would be...if you don't mind going on a date with a fucking high school student..."

"Ugh, that's going to get me some crap from my friends." John chuckled, shaking his head. "But I don't care, you know? I just wanna be with you."

"Yeah, me too." Karkat said, so quietly that John found it adorable.

After they discussed the details of where they'd meet up, Karkat headed back to school. When John was positive that he was out of sight, he leaped up in the air and did a a flailing happy dance. He was in the middle of his third spaz-tastic leap, when the door suddenly swung open.

"I forgot my-" Karkat started, but broke off when he saw what John was doing. "...keys."

John froze, unsure of what to say. "Uh..."

Slowly, Karkat took his keys off the counter, and started back to the door. Before he left, he shot John the biggest, shit-eating grin ever to exist. Then, without warning, he threw back his head and laughed so loudly, John wasn't sure if he should be embarrassed or happy.

Probably both.


	7. Chapter 7

**_A.N: I'm a horrible person. My inspiration kind of died, you guys. I'm really sorry. I threw together the last few points I had in kind for the story for the last chapter, but I'm really disapointed in myself for getting so bored when writing this. I am awful. XD Please don't hate me and try to understand that I was totally betraying my SolKat ship when I wrote this and I wasn't really inspired when writing it. Okay? We good? Yeah, pro'lly not. Okay. Last chapter, here you are. Again, so sorry for flaking out._**

* * *

The movie was great- action packed, dramatic, all that stuff. John and Karkat had each bought a their own popcorn, agreeing sharing one would be a bad idea because they would try to hog all the food to themselves. When the movie was over, they went to the nearby arcade and had a DDR face-off. Karkat won. The kid was light on his feet, wheras John went tumbling into the racing games. Overall, it was fun.

They went out again the following week, getting dinner at McDonalds (Karkat thought it was interesting how humans ate moobeasts) and then going for a walk in the park. John tried to feed the pigeons, but they ended up attacking him and Karkat wound up chasing one all across the park. Even though they got odd looks, John was having a blast.

When he dropped Karkat off at his 'hive', he decided to go for it. John hadn't kissed many girls, let alone trolls, so this was new to him. Karkat seemed to think it was peculiar, but they melted into each other, kind of like in one of those sappy romance films.

"Hm, you've got to do that again." Karkat said when John pulled back, his face was bright red.

Sollux then popped his head out the door, "Oh my god, you just maxked on my moirail!"

John froze, turning and even brighter red than Karkat. "I- uh..."

"CHARGE!" Sollux shrieked, his eyes sparking miniture blue and red lightning bolts. Karkat quickly went to shoosh pap him, telling John he'd see him the next day as the human ran off.

"He's stealing you!" Sollux lisped, pouting. Karkat rolled his eyes and bright his friend back inside, telling him all about what 'kissing' actually felt like. Sollux wasn't impressed.

Dave wasn't exactly helping John out, he could only tease him about how he and Rose had gone gay for trolls, and how Karkat was a high school student, and how hot Terezi was. Oh yeah, Terezi had become his Matesprite by accident when Dave took her to the beach and brought a sand-pail with him. That had earned him a strange day.

Karkat and Kanaya (Rose's totally sexy troll girlfriend) seemed to be secretly advertising the movie store, because John suddenly got an overload of customers. Trolls and humans were renting his films, and he actually had enough money to set aside for something fun.

One day, a female troll with two mismatched horns ended up starting a conversation with John at the restaurant he worked at. Her name was Vriska, and she seemed to be great at getting into his mind, understanding how he felt. Like a therapist. John wound up in drunken tears telling her about his childhood, with her shoosh-papping him like Karkat did to Sollux. She became his moirail, and later moved in with him and Dave because they had an extra room. Plus, she had nowhere else to go and John felt partially responsible for her.

It was weird how none of this would have happened if he hadn't met Karkat that one morning. He told the troll that when they were sitting on a hill, watching the stars poke out in the sky. Karkat told him he was an idiot, then they kissed for a little bit before they went home. John was almost sure he was in love with this troll.

"I pity you," Karkat said, looking at John from across the table they were eating at. John almost spat out his milkshake. Pity was the troll equivalent to love.

"I love you, too, Karkat." John said, swallowing the milkshake before it spewed everywhere. "More than popcorn."

"You're such a fucking mood killer."

"You know you love me."


End file.
